Wolf Creek Golf Resort receivership may cost thousands of dollars to lease holders

Dozens of RV lease holders are worried they may lose tens of thousands of dollars after the Wolf Creek Golf Resort went into receivership.

Sean McGuinness planned to spend his retirement on the green, putting away at the famed Wolf Creek Golf Resort in Ponoka. In 2021, he leased out a lot at the Wolf Creek RV Resort, adjacent to the golf course. He paid $35,000 for a 15-year lease.

“We thought it would be a pretty safe investment because Wolf Creek, and for that matter, the Vold family had been around for over 40 years,” McGuinness said.

However, his investment quickly soured when he was notified the golf resort was going into receivership a year after he signed the paper.

“This was to be a part of our retirement plan, so things really now are up in the air,” he said.

Wolf Creek was placed into receivership on Oct. 13. Five days later, the resort’s president, sent a letter to members.

In the letter, Ryan Vold said, “As many of you already know, I have been trying to find an investor or buyer for Wolf Creek for some time. In fact, on several occasions I felt I had something put together but unfortunately, they all fell thru. Our mortgage company has lost faith in me finding a buyer so they now are taking it into their hands.”

McGuinness said RV lease holders were left in shock.

“Nobody knew anything about that…everybody I’ve talked to that seemed like just out of the blue. Where did that come from?” McGuinness said.

“A lot of the campers are wondering where all the money went. When you look at the last two years, it’s the busiest two years the golf course has had, and then adding in the $1 million the campers contributed, there’s a lot of questions as to what’s happened here.”

McGuinness added he and others were also unaware Wolf Creek and Vold had been sued for nearly $3 million in April by Cobra Mortgage Services.

“Despite that, the tours continued. The sales pitches continued, and other investors, other campers, that were really unsuspecting ended up investing at a stage that really I don’t think anything should have been going on at that point.”

For example, Doug Hassett dipped into his retirement fund and paid $7,500 to extend his lease for another five years in September, only weeks before the resort went into receivership.

“Shock, for sure. I didn’t have any idea. I didn’t see it coming at all,” said Hassett.

The receivership document lists seven organizations as secured creditors, including Cobra Mortgage Services, Ponoka County and Lacombe County. However, McGuinness and Hassett, along with more than 40 other lease holders, are listed as unsecured creditors.

“None of these lease agreements were registered with land titles, and had they been, we would have been listed as secured creditors,” said McGuinness.

“It’s really unfortunate because the campers actually contributed maybe the second largest amount of money, and we’re listed as unsecured creditors, so we’re not guaranteed any money with the sale of Wolf Creek.”

Brad Taylor bought a lease in 2019. He paid $35,000 and an additional $30,000 in improvements to his lot. He considers himself a little lucky because he paid everything up front.

“I know a lot of people that decided to get involved in this, and they actually went out and remortgaged their homes, so that they could buy into these properties,” he said.

Taylor added his attempts of contacting Vold have been fruitless since the receivership notice.

“I tried to get a hold of him, and had no luck whatsoever of getting a hold of him to ask any questions or get any answers at all.”

Vold denied an interview request and asked CTV News Edmonton to contact the receiver MNP.

MNP Vice President Karen Aylward said: “I won’t be providing any specific information or comment at this time, but you’re welcome to visit our website where we post public information related to this engagement as it becomes available.”

McGuinness, Hassett, and Taylor are hoping that the future buyer honours the lease agreements they’ve paid for.

“The bottom line is that the campers didn’t do anything wrong, so we’re hoping for some of these wrongs to be righted in this sale,” said McGuinness.